Saturday, January 24, 2015

Exceptionalism:
The US government has acknowledged that Australian David Hicks, who
the CIA tortured for five years, turned out to be innocent. A letter
of apology will not be forthcoming. This
Will Go Over Well:
The White House says that the President will not be meeting with
Israeli President Netanyahu when he visits
the House of Representatives to thank them for voting the way
Israel's lobbyists pay them to. He'll also tell them – or at least
Boehner and the Republicans – to stop Obama's
negotiations with Iran.

Happy
Birthday:
On the 42nd anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, House
Republicans pushed through another
pointless bill tightening
federal abortion restrictions. This
was the annual ceremonial passing of a ban on using federal funds to
pay for abortions, with the added foolishness of banning those who
receive any federal support in paying for their insurance – which
is the poor and near poor and mostly women – from using that
insurance to cover an abortion, even if medically necessary. Way to
go, guys. And it's just the guys – the lady Republicans feel they
don't want to defend the old “legitimate rape” thingy again.
None of this matters, it's just pandering to the conservative
Christians who spend too much time trying to control women. Obama
will veto the
measure
if it limps through the Senate.

Fried
With That?McDonald's
has
reported a 7.3% fall in quarterly sales and an annual profit plunge
of 15%. Because the recovery...

Repeat
Business:
Supreme Court appears
ready to gut the fair housing act by requiring that plaintiffs prove
intent on the part of bankers and realtors to
discriminate in housing, rather than pointing to the actual effects
of their discrimination.
Basically the argument (which the Roberts court bought in the voting
rights case) is that results don't matter, just intent – and intent
has to be in
the form of some evidence written
down somewhere that the plaintiffs can access and
produce in court. Scouting
Report:Former
Bundesbank president and
current chair of UBS Axel Weber says that the ECB's attempt at QE is
not sufficient either in scope or amount and that
“changes to labor market rules and pension schemes” are
also needed.
Those
'changes' include the abolishing of labor laws and the looting of
pensions.

Recovery
6.4:
Sales of existing homes has fallen Y/Y for the first time in half a
decade, mostly because the middle class isn't anymore.

Quoted:“We
think that the current trends in the oil market and the global
economy are only pushing the world oil to lower levels. We think the
crisis is only at its earliest stages and the demand situation in
world market is not really conducive to oil prices going up,”
Vagit Alekperov, CEO
of Russian
oil giant Lukoil,
pointing
to a possible $25/bbl environment for
crude
oil .
Others suspect thatif
oil drops below $30 a barrel,a severe global recession “is inevitable.”

Our Motto

Keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.